In vriendskap met Darwin in die Christelike ontwerp van ’n antropologie?

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AOSIS Open Journals

Abstract

Best science and best theological reflection – the two belongs together for the sake of both. This is argued for in the exposition of the justification of friendship with Darwin (best science as evolutionary science) which is argumentatively connected from a Christian perspective to the praiseworthiness of God as creator (best theological reflection). Concretely, this implies making theologically sense of the important contemporary contribution of evolutionary biology on the origin of life and the descriptions of life. This endeavour necessitates a critical re-reading not only of Darwinian abuse and misperceptions but also of the larger historical context of the aforegoing scientific revolutions and their aftermath. Therefore, both discourses of abuse on the extreme spectrum of reflection on creation and life are critically addressed, namely creationism or Intelligent Design and bio-fundamentalism. As hermeneutical tool of discernment, the argument of evolutionary re-conceptualisation is unfolded as a distinction between an official story and alternative story to highlight not only the exciting implications of the latter but also especially as act of the de-domestication of our understanding of God as the praiseworthy God of creation.

Description

Two contributions by the author have been re-worked for the article. The first contribution is from the Expert Seminar (September 2011). The seminar is a collaborative project between the Departments of Dogmatics of the Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, and the Protestantse Universiteit, Utrecht, The Netherlands. The second contribution is a paper that was read at the third Neuroscience Day of the University of Pretoria (May 2012).

Keywords

Charles Darwin, Christelike antropologie, Christian anthropology

Sustainable Development Goals

Citation

Veldsman, D.P., ‘In vriendskap met Darwin in die Christelike ontwerp van ’n antropologie?’, HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 69(1), Art. #1374, 10 pages. http://dx.DOI.org/ 10.4102/hts.v69i1.1374